The fire began on the Bluffton High School side of the wooded area and the wind quickly spread the fire through the fence line toward the Bluffton Elementary side, Beaufort County School District spokesman Jim Foster said.

“Bluffton Elementary students who were in classrooms closest to the fire were evacuated for about an hour and were able to return once firefighters had the brush fire under control,” Foster said. “All students and faculty are safe.”

New H.E. McCracken Middle School athletic director Matt Whitmore initially reported the fire. Whitmore said he walked to a mobile unit to deliver some papers because he wanted to put names with faces.

“When I stepped out the units, I smelled and saw smoke so I went to check it out and saw flames,” Whitmore said “If I hadn’t been new here, I would have just faxed the papers over and never would have seen it, or been able to let the other schools know.”